Anti-Serb comments start around 1:20 in
Remember back to last week when Amy Winehouse was a drunken mumbling mess on stage in Belgrade, when we later learned that she had to be pushed on stage to perform? She canceled her whole European tour after that, and rumor had it that she will not be performing again for years. Well after mocking Amy Winehouse for not being able to do her job, and making fun of people for paying and expecting Amy to sing, Chelsea Handler said several nasty things about Serbia on her show, as if it was the whole country’s fault that they had the bad luck to host Amy’s first concert. She was typically rude about it too, and it was uncalled for. Chelsea said “I can’t believe they even allow Serbians to go to concerts. I didn’t even know that was going on over there.”

One of the panel members, Greg Proops, then chimed in while another one laughed uncontrollably. “They’re calling it a disaster in Serbia. This is a place they’ve had ethnic cleansing and genocide. Her concert was a bigger bummer than that… after Serbia where was she going, like Khazakastan [sic] or something?.” Proops has since apologized through Twitter.

Other jokes were made that weren’t as offensive or targeted to Serbia, and then Chelsea made it worse. “The Serbian defense minister… said on his facebook page. ‘Amy’s concert was a shame and a huge disappointment.’ Well so is your country.”

Well now Serbian groups are calling for a boycott of Chelsea, E! and all the advertisers for Chelsea’s show.

On Monday’s episode of her E! late-night series “Chelsea Lately,” Handler made jokes about Serbians in a segment related to Amy Winehouse’s recent disastrous concert in Serbia.

“Along with Chris Franjola, Natasha Leggero, and Greg Proops, Ms. Handler for 3 straight minutes ruthlessly attacked Serbia and its people,” it says on a Facebook page calling for a boycott of the star until she apologizes on air.

Handler and her panel, as well as the audience, laughed as she said she didn’t know Serbians were allowed to attend concerts.

Handler’s “worst comment” implied that “Serbia and its people are a shame and disappointment.”

“For the sake of trying to seem comical, these ‘comedians’ have viciously attacked Serbia and its people,” the post continued. “Their attempt at comedy has horrendously failed, and instead turned into outright hate speech!”

The page, liked by more than 27,000 people, also urges a boycott of NBC Universal and the show’s sponsors, such as Panasonic and Dr. Pepper.

A petition on the site change.org, which encourages people to fight for social causes, had more than 12,000 signatures as of press time.

Filip Filipi, who organized the Facebook page, told The Hollywood Reporter he was “in talks” with Handler’s team about issuing an official apology.

So far, Proops is the only one to offer a mea culpa.

“Dear Serbs, they were jokes. Please accept my apology,” he wrote on Twitter Wednesday. “I am well and truly sorry.”

Here’s a link to the Facebook page calling for the boycott. The online petition has over 18,000 signatures and the page has over 40,000 likes. Do you think Chelsea is going to apologize at all? I doubt it, and if she does she’ll turn it into another joke. Just like most of her excuses for jokes, it won’t be funny.

LOL I am way ahead of the boycott. I have never watched Chelsea Handler’s show. I honestly don’t think she will apologize either because girlfriend has this massive ego because she has this show, people buy her lame books, and she believes she has friends in high places. Chelsea is gonna try and make this a freedom of speech thing. She is gonna fall hard and I would enjoy that.

Maybe if I was Serbian, I would be upset. But it seems like no one can say anything without having to back peddle down the road and/or apologize. She makes fun of everyone all the time. I just don’t see the need for people to have to apologize for everything that comes out of their mouths, especially Chelsea she runs off at the mouth and says some ignorant things and has a lot if tmi moments just call her ignorant and call it a day but a facebook page and demanding an apology that isn’t going to happen or she’ll turn it into a joke.

I saw the video of the show where she made her dumb uninformed comments. She started off talking about Amy W. who was a mess, then from out of the blue she started talking about the Serbian people. Look I’m a very proud American,and we have a very bloody and unfortunate history.

Greg Proops was quick to issue an apology.

she is an idiot and not funny. This is what happens when you think you are funny. She and others need to realize that people outside the US have pride in their countries too. Let someone have said things about the US and there would be a huge outcry.

Can’t wait to see how Kevin Huvane spins this one. He has been very busy lately. Really earning all that money he makes.

I for one am pretty indifferent to Serbia most days but by no means do I think it is a stellar country with an upstanding track record on the world stage.

This is a country which only now coughed up one of the most notorious war criminals to the Hague, not because it was the decent thing to do but because it would get them on board with the EU. They can claim otherwise all they want but the timing is pretty suspect.

So yeah, that country is pretty disappointing so I don’t find her comments all that offensive. It’s no different really than all the flack comedians fling at Canada, Mexico or Europe as a whole on any given day.

I dislike her more than many but I will say this the Serbian gov’t is also insulted that she talked about the genocide which DID happen. I don’t support her humor because it’s not funny but if you support that statement on Facebook you are denying the Serbian role in ethnic cleansing.

Re her ‘comedy’, meh, I just find her so ignorant and spiteful and ill-informed in general that this doesn’t really warrant much more than another disgusted eyeroll. It’s like, what else would you expect from her barrel-scraping, sneering, totally depleted bag of ‘comedy’ tricks?

I wish someone would do a comedy routine on CH’s age. Now THAT would be funny.

Thay would make CH a pshico.Following stories on someone she supposadly hates.

AJ is trying to bring attention to the gross history in that part of the world, and this trailer trash comes along and makes light of serious issues like genocide. Really?? And she has the gaul to call Angelina names.

I just don’t think Handler is the right person to be joking about that. Actually, I don’t think jokes should be the way to address the issue anyway. The fact many locals still think he (Milosevic) and other war criminals are heroes, that international organizations have been consistently failing to catch them (unintentionally or not)…well, that’s too serious to be made fun of.

It’s a joke.
Everyone needs to simmer down.. how many comics make fun of Canada.. you don’t see Canadians boycotting left, right and centre…
People need to learn to take things with a grain of salt.. especially if you don’t like her – then who cares what she says? ..
Don’t laugh, roll your eyes and move on.

Please, how can anyone feel sorry for a country that repeatedly denies committing genocide and that defends its war criminals??? They’ve only turned over assholes like Mladic because they want EU membership, and as for them “having it hard”, they probably wouldn’t have had to deal with NATOs flack if they’d ceased killing, raping and torturing Bosnians, Croats and Albanians. Poor Serbs my ass!

Really? I watched the show and I didn’t think anything of that comment, because it was true. The fact that Serbia thinks we should boycott Chelsea is quite amusing, since they committed real crimes against humanity and Chelsea was just making a joke. Now Americans want to get on board with “boycotting” Chelsea, basically siding with the Serbian government? What is wrong with this picture? Doesn’t Serbia have bigger problems than Chelsea Handler? I mean, I found Tracy Morgan’s rant many times more offensive, and yet everyone seems to have embraced him again. (Still can’t figure out that one.)

I know Chelsea rubs people the wrong way, but she’s one of the only comedian’s who says what everyone else is thinking and doesn’t make apologies for it. I hope she starts a petition against Serbia demanding they apologize for their decisions, starting with Mladic… now he was truly offensive.

I have never had the (dis)pleasure of watching her show, and I don`t really care what Chelsea says about Serbia or not. However, I do not think she should apologize for telling it like it is. We should never forget all the atrocities committed by the Serbian government. I know it`s been almost 20 years, but crimes of that magnitude should never be forgotten…so I give kudos to Chelsea for not letting the world forget, be that unintentional or not.

“I know Chelsea rubs people the wrong way, but she’s one of the only comedian’s who says what everyone else is thinking” Um, NO RMac, she does NOT ‘say what everyone else is thinking’. Nobody agrees with her on anything and she has never said one sane thing. If ‘everyone else’ is a racist bigot and hypocrite, then its a very sad world. You’d have to be truly messed up in the head if you think people agree with her and think what she says. And if she truly echos what you are thinking, I feel very truly sorry for you.

I’ll say it again in the statement by Greg Poops he goes as far as denying ethnic cleansing ever happened. So if you support that ban you are denying the very real fact of ethnic cleansing in Serbia.
Chelsea Handler is an ignorant, racist, unfunny, dried-up-looking bitch but don’t let your hate for her blind you to the reality that Serbian Genocide did happen.

@RMac: “she says what everyone else is thinking” ? people in their right mind process what they are thinking. not all in our heads are acceptable, some are vile and normal people filter these thoughts and bolt them in their heads and shake them off. that’s the difference with idiots and criminals.

RMac: She make despicable racist remarks about the Jolie-Pitt children and you say this is what “everybody else” is thinking? I don’t know what kind of company you keep but I’m glad I’m not part of it.

It’s one thing to criticize a government. Indeed, I don’t think there is a government anywhere in the world that doesn’t deserve some amount of criticism and mocking. But to criticize and mock an entire country, filled with average people just like you and me, is another thing entirely.

I’m sure there are some Serbians that agree with the genocide and even happily participate in it. Similarly, there are some Americans that go to soldiers’ funerals and celebrate their deaths. There are some Americans who burn stacks of Qur’ans. There are some Americans who are neo-Nazi white supremacists. I think we would all agree that painting the entire American population as homophobic, Islam-hating, neo-Nazis would be ignorant and just plain wrong. Why, then, is it OK to do it to another country? Answer: it’s not.

@Laughternrain that’s a pretty horrific, shameful comment. In my book the deaths of 8000 people and expulsion of another 30,000 trump anything small potato Handler has done.
If you seriously mean that you are no better than Handler.

Oh come on, mln76! Of course the deaths and expulsions are horrible. I don’t think anyone would argue that. And the Serbian officials must be brought to account. But that is a SEPERATE issue, and doesn’t *invalidate* the boycott of Handler’s rude behaviour towards an ENTIRE COUNTRY. One issue does not invalidate the other.
Edit: GeekChic’s post speaks to my opinion on this. One CAN condemn the action of a country’s officals, AND call for a Handler ban AT THE SAME TIME. It does not signify AT ALL, that you support genocide. Its quite narrow-minded to link the 2. They don’t have anything to do with each other, except for that Greg guy compunding the error and linking the 2. Btw, I’m sure many Serbians (and people all around the world) think Bush, Powell, Rice, Obama et al should be charged for war crimes too. But that shouldn’t excuse a person making racist and derogatory comments about America as a whole. I really don’t understand why you can’t separate the 2 issues. What has happened in Serbia STILL DOES NOT INVALIDATE the boycott against Handler on racial grounds.

Would you say the same about the Holocaust of Jews, or slavery of Africans?

I don’t support the ban because of this sentence hidden(because you have to click more to read this part) in the 3rd paragraph

‘… said that there was ethnic cleansing and genocide in Serbia (of which there is no basis for this claim)’

I refuse to support any statement that claims that there was not ethnic cleansing just as I would never support a statement saying there was no Holocaust or no Slavery . That doesn’t mean I support Handler or what she said which was very ignorant as usual. But I won’t let Handler’s bigotry turn me into a bigot.

Geek Chick(39)Agree completely.I just wonder if an obscure Serbian comedian starts making jokes about Americans erazing the native americans and pushing the remained into reservations or living off African slaves or inviting Einstein and supporting financially his nuclear research and implementing it at the end…I just wonder whether the ordinary american would find it funny or will accept the right of having an opinion?

Serbia needs to get its priorities in order if they are worried about Chelsea handler and Amy winehouse. Look I HATE chelsea too but this is not a big deal. Its her usual shtick to insult everything and everyone and I think its ridiculous that a country with so many issues is concerning themselves with this. shes not worth it

I don’t think what she spouts off matters. But as said before. If someone had said something about the US would people be just as understanding, or would it be so brush off

OT a bit. I recall the Dixie Chicks using their free speech about George Bush. and what happened. All these understanding people boycotted their cds, sent them death threats and God only knows what else. And all that was said was they felt ashamed to be from the same state.

I think when you view it from a different point of view it becomes a bit more “important” to the people that live there.

There’s no way this awful waste of space is going to apologize. She’s already said she doesn’t apologize for the things she says. CH gets off on offending people. I’m sure she’s somewhere drunk of her ass, and loving this whole controversy.

wow you guys can really debate sh*t. Dont like Handler and i get the whole “dont judge an entire people” thing. And yes she should shut up and go away.
And they did some horrible things i have some (married in) family members from Bosnia and their entire families were destroyed and the ones that survived are scattered around the world so Serbia has dona alot but the Bosnians in my family dont blame all Serbs just the ones who supported and committed the crimes.

While the Serbs are busy boycotting chelsea,the Jolie-Pitt munchkins take matters into their own hands.As chelsea leaves the kkk headquaters,Zahara swoops down from the roof top and drop kicks her with moves learned by watching Kung Foo Panda,Maddox,Pax and Shilo quickly hog tie her with the World War Z zombie scarf.Now safely contained the Twins wash out her mouth with Sponge Bob bubble bath.***The following day:The half-pint six pack saunter over to the view,And they issue a statement that they will NOT be apologizing for their bully beatdown.

lol, do people not realize who Chelsea Handler is? For chrissake she’s a shock comedian… just like Howard Stern… remember all the crazy crap he used to say? Nobody made HIM apologize. I’m sorry but that’s her schtick… telling CH she can’t do shock comedy is like telling the sun not the shine, water not to be wet or Lady Gaga not to act stupid. Serbia needs to get over it and we need to get over trying to make everyone fit into a mold. And if they were so offended about some obscure comedian’s comments about their country, maybe they shouldn’t have committed genocie in the first place… *eyeroll*

There is a huge difference between comedy and “sounding off”. This middle-aged booze-hound SOUNDS off LOTS. When the audience claps and hoots instead of laughs during her “comedy acts”, they know she’s RANTING about what grates on her nerves. Can’t stand her.

I signed. I’m really much more offended by how lame those jokes were, than I am by her dissing Serbia. Which actually doesn’t really offend me, but people should really speak out against bad comedy. Way to go Serbians!

Gosh, the hypocrisy of people is simple stunning. Glad some people, like Handler, can easily point fingers at Serbia. According to the Associated Press, there’s some 90,000 to 110,000 Iraq civilians killed in the STILL ongoing war–started to stop Sadam from using weapons of mass destruction, which never existed. This number does not include the civilian deaths in Afghanistan, and other military battles engaged by the US and its allies. But, yes, Serbia is evil and all Serbians are horrible people. Continue…

Many, many countries have innocent civilian blood on their hands. And, it’s so easy to point fingers at other countries without examining the actions of your own government.

I used to like Chelsea before she became big. Success does not agree with her mentally or physically.

I agree with Krissy, the tirade against Serbia is aimed at Angelina in a twisted way. The only reason she has heard of Serbia is because Angelina made a film there. Chelsea isn’t exactly Ms Geopolitically Aware. Chuy had to explain to her what Armenia is.

Personally, I don’t care what Handler says about Serbs/Serbia and it is silly to pay any attention to her. The politicians are clearly trying to divert attention away from real issues. They should worry more about getting people jobs.

That said, I’m going to write one long comment on this thread and one only (will not get into any sort of a flame war) because I have to vent my feelings on this topic:

-It is sad to watch all of the “expert” comments here that go off on the wars in the former Yugoslavia–comments that merely parrot what your politicians (the “always truthful” Clintons and friends) and your CNNs/BBCs/etc., were saying. Even though everyone thinks they are a critical thinker, it is so obvious that most just trustingly accept what they hear. They are all too willing to believe simplistic accounts of complicated events. And once they decide to believe something (A= Good, B=Bad), they rarely give up those perspectives.
-I have to applaud the effective propaganda war waged on behalf of the Croats, Bosnian Muslims, and Albanians by the PR firm Ruder Finn. Look up their director James Harff’s French TV interview where he discusses the firm’s work for these parties and how effectively Ruder Finn changed the media landscape in their clients’ favor. It’s always funny hearing “the Serbs invaded XYZ”. How do you invade your own home? These were civil conflicts. The “Death Camps” story was brought about by a picture that made it look like people were standing behind a barbed wire fence, when in fact the photographers were inside the fenced enclosure and the people were outside of it (the reporters later said, “we never said they were behind the fence”, but they obviously took a picture that they knew would be construed in that way).
-”Rape Camps” nonsense also lives on, even though the UN admits they didn’t exist. These people even had the gall to accuse the Canadian General Lewis Mackenzie, who headed up UN peacekeeping forces, of raping Bosnian Muslim girls, just because he refused to pretend that they (Muslims) were innocent victims in the whole disaster (he wasn’t on the Serbian side, he was NEUTRAL. He told it like it is regarding all of us warring parties. This is why they smeared him and replaced him with someone more willing to follow Clinton’s agenda).
-Of course I expect to hear stuff like this from commenters who are Croatian, Bosnian Muslim, etc. They have their perspective/experiences/political aims, and I won’t stand here saying that every single one is a liar. In a civil war bad things are done on all sides. The problem I have is that no one seems to care/realize that you can hear almost identical stories from the Serbs. It’s like our stories don’t count. Our suffering is less or is somehow justified.
-If you want to talk “ethnic cleansing”, why don’t you look up the numbers at the UNHCR? After the war, Serbia-Montenegro was host to one of the world’s largest refugee populations (people who, for the most part, have not been able to return home to Croatia/Bosnia/Kosovo). So…did we “ethnically cleanse” ourselves, too? But, we’ve been so demonized that people think that’s OK.
-Seriously, when it comes to any and all international events, please exercise a little critical thought regarding what you’re told by the media and politicians (and anyone with a personal interest/objective in a matter. Obviously, I have a personal interest as a Serb. Just as all of the Croats/Muslims/Albanians telling their stories do). Please dig around for information from other sources that maybe don’t always repeat the “party line” (Remember WMD?). Analyze facts for yourself (i.e. UN figures, etc.) regarding any events in the news.
-I’m certainly not saying that “no Serbian soldier did anything wrong”, but you’re naive if you accept that “only/mostly Serbian soldiers did anything wrong.”

@Serb: What I got from your post was first, a lot of self-justification (We didn’t do anything bad) and then a lot of rationalization (Everybody was doing bad stuff, not just us). The war crimes committed by Serbia against the Bosnian Muslims, including mass rapes, have been well documented. Click on the link for some photographs that were taken in a Serbian concentration camp. I don’t think any photos like this have surfaced since the Allies liberated the Nazi death camps in 1945.

My family’s not from Serbia, but a neighboring country and I have to say, Eastern Europeans have some of the most sexist, racist and homophobic views, only second to the middle east. Love Handler….she’s funny and calls it like it is…..screw Serbia, they need to look at the problems in their own country instead of worrying about what a comedian says about them. I’d be more embarassed on how they treat their own people.

I don’t usually get upset by jokes because they are really just jokes and I believe that you can’t be offended at jabs aimed in one direction and not another. If this were John Stewart, it would be different – politics is his thing, he makes fun of everyone and everything, but intelligently, and in a more or less balanced way. Chelsea Handler is just annoying and random. She seems really insecure to me and her comedy is just plain juvenile. She tries very hard to emit a look-at-me-I’m-a-funny-woman-please-like-me vibe.

I just think it’s important to separate a nation’s government and history from the average citizens as a whole. Yes, awful things happened. Many people were to blame. However, is it fair to take a completely random stab at people who were probably not even born at the time of the genocide? They wanted to see a concert, they were ripped off. That’s disappointing to anybody. To call an entire nation disappointing is another thing – while there is democracy and people are able to vote and therefore take some responsibility for their government’s actions, have you ever thought that maybe they don’t have much choice between one idiot and another? I somehow doubt that the corrupt politicians and aggressive nationalists were the ones going to watch Amy Winehouse stumble onstage.

As far as the boycott goes, well, that’s another story altogether. An idiotic comedienne makes a dumb statement, someone reacts and writes a poorly thought out boycott, it spreads all over the place thanks to the rubbish-megaphone that is the internet. It’s just a bad representation of comics, and a bad representation of Serbs. Novak Djokovic however, is an excellent representative.

The problem is that Chelsea is on air internationally. International media usually respect international law. In this case Chalsea did not do that. Worldwide , words of racism, humiliation and discrimination are not considered funny but they are named hate speech (in us hate speech is aloud). Hate speech is serious think outside of law – usually processed and punished ! There is also different psychology of humor worldwide and an professional comedian should be informed that much. In Europe everything that evoke humiliation,discrimination and racism is not considered funny. The reaction of Serbian people is normal in those circumstances, for us this was a Shock !
We hope that Handler is mature enough and that she’ll apologize on time.

Serb – “You’re naive if you accept that “only/mostly Serbian soldiers did anything wrong.”
Not only but definitely mostly!
And call me naive, crazy or say this is my personal interest as a Croat but I don’t remember Croatia attacking Serbia? Maybe I missed it? But I do remember very well my country being attacked, bombs falling around my house, on my town, and killing people around me.

No offense, but Americans like Chelsea Handler probably don’t even know where Serbia is on a map. So yeah, I’d imagine Serbs being upset because Handler uses her media pull to garner attention, that shouldn’t even be provided to the likes of Handler.

Let’s not get wars mixed up in this. Honestly, all armies become into barbarians when wars occur. So for the commenter above, raving on about Serbian war crimes, there is also Abu Ghraib and American soldiers as well as George Bush and Cheney (who could be tried as war criminals).
This is about Handler being a moron.
Amy Winehouse was off her face, concert goers paid to see a concert and got peeved. End of story.
Don’t make it a political argument when it isn’t.
Handler is about drawing attention to herself because her drunk semi literate arse has nothing else to offer.

The Kazakhstan comment pisses me off a lot more, actually. I like Proops, but he is just lucky that the Kazakhs need western approval for their culture like a fish needs a bicycle. Serbia is at least genuinely creepy.

@ Hanna of Machars – LOL! That is too funny. The JP Jrs. cleaning up the streets of L.A. one ignorant mess at a time. Although if they actually gave anyone a Brangie Bunch bully beatdown, you know they’d get time out with no dessert for a week.

Wow, definitely feeling the animosity, so thanks for the fabulous welcome since we all know each other so well.

Chelsea calls everyone out on their ridiculous behavior, while also making fun of herself, including Americans. I think we need to people to shock us, kind of keeps things in perspective. I mean really, the Serbian government is going after Chelsea because she offended them? Really? ??

It’s like everything else, someone cries foul and everyone’s gotta get on board, or be hassled online…

I feel truly sorry for me too. I have a twisted sense of humor and a soft spot for Chuy. What will become of me?!?!?!?

People, are you gddmn kidding me?!
I’m a twenty six year old Serbian girl, and when I was in primary school, your government, along with a bunch of other rich countries’ governments, poured f-ing bombs over our heads for more than 3 months.
As for the killings, rapes and pillaging, of course the Serbian army did that – as well as the Croatian and Muslim army. It was a war for a chrissakes, what do you expect, singalongs and puzzle games?
Oh, and, by the way, they won the war- so guess who did more damage to whom?( Although this is like comparing evil to more evil, quite ridiculous, I know )
Moreover, when you go on and on about Milosevic being some kind of supernatural monster-demon or whatever, newsflash- he wasn’t, he was just a regular dictator who had done more harm to his country than to any other. The reason why you think that about him is bcs of your media- they’ve been turning a regular scumbag into a superhuman villain and demonizing him in order to, guess what- justify their pour-some-bombs-on-helpless people’s-heads campaign.
The problem is not Chelsey with her pathetic attempt at humor and ratings, it’s ignorant people like Bill Hick, Eve, etc. who run their mouths about things they know little or nothing about.
As for Srebrenica, our President, Boris Tadic, went there to commemorate the victims. However, there was recently a commemoration for Serbian victims( in a town called Jadovno ), and, guess what- Croatian President didn’t show up, he sent a ‘representative’. You can check all of this online.

I love Chelsea! She may not say what everyone else is thinking, but she says some pretty funny $hit. I can’t believe all this “she said some stuff I don’t like so she serves no purpose. Wahhh! I don’t like what you said! Boohoo you offended me”… get over it ladies. She’s funny, and based on her ratings and the number of books she sells and her successful stand-up tours I’m not the only person who thinks so. Saying you don’t like someone is one thing, but saying she has “no purpose” is just stupid. Put it this way, if people who say things I don’t like should just “go away” none of you would be commenting here because you would have all just “gone away” by now.